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F 116 
.L886 
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PROCEEDINGS 



)NG Island Historical Society 



IN MEMORY OF 



HON. JAMES CARSON BREVOORT 

MRS. URANIA BATTELL HUMPHREY 

HON. JOHN GREENWOOD 

ANDy 

ALFRED SMITH BARNES 







BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 

1888 



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JAMES CARSON BREVOORT. 



Mr. Brevoort was born July lo, 1818, at Bloomingdale, now a 
part of New- York City, and attended school first in New-York 
City, then at Round Hill School at Northampton, Mass., of 
which Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft were masters; 
then at Paris ; and afterward at Baron Fellenberg's school, 
at Hofwyl, in Switzerland. He then entered the Ecole Cen- 
trale des Arts et Manufactures, in Paris, where, after a three 
years' course, he was graduated, receiving a diploma as Civil 
Engineer. After studying railway-construction in France 
and England, he returned to New- York in 1838. 

He was then employed for nearly a year at the West Point 
foundry, in which his father was interested. In 1 841, as 
surveyor, he accompanied Prof James Renwick, one of the 
Commissioners of the North-east Boundary Survey. In 
1842, he accompanied Washington Irving, United States 
Minister to Spain, as private secretary, and attache q{ the 
Legation. In 1843, he made an extended tour through 
Europe, and returned to New- York in 1844. 

In 1845, he married Elizabeth Dorothea Lefferts, only child 
of Hon. Leffert Lefferts, of Bedford, now a part of Brook- 
lyn. Mr. Lefferts was the first Judge of Kings County, 
and first President of the Long Island Bank, the earliest 
bank incorporated in Brooklyn. After Mr. Brevoort's 
marriage he made Brooklyn his home, and became actively 
interested in whatever concerned the welfare of that city. 
His only child, Henry Leftert Brevoort, survives him. 



In 1847, ^^ was appointed a member of the Charter Convention, 
and for several years served as a member of the Board of 
Education. In 1856, he was appointed on the Board of Water 
Commissioners, serving as secretary until 1862, when a 
permanent Board was appointed. In 1858, he was appointed 
a trustee of Greenwood Cemetery. In 1863, he took an 
active part in the formation of the Long Island Historical 
Society, was its President until 1873, Chairman of its execu- 
tive committee until 1876, and Director until his death. 
From 1852 to 1878 he was a trustee of the Astor Library, 
serving as Superintendent for the last two years of that 
period. 

He was a member of the Lyceum of Natural History, and of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
He was an honorary or corresponding member of the Archae- 
ological Society of Madrid ; of the Entomological Societies 
of Baltimore and Philadelphia ; of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia ; of the National Institute, Washing- 
ton ; of the New England Historic Genealogical Society ; 
of the American Antiquarian Society; of the Massachusetts, 
New- York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and other Historical 
Societies ; of the American Geographical Society ; and of 
the Numismatic Society of Philadelphia. He was a Regent 
of the University of the State of New- York ; and received 
the degree of LL. D. from Williams College in 1873. 

His contributions to historical and scientific journals were 
numerous. In Natural History, he was specially interested 
in Icthyology, his collections were extensive, and his writ- 
ings on that subject have high authority. His " Notes on 
some figures of Japanese fish by artists of the United States 
Expedition to Japan," were published in separate form. 
Other separate publications by him were " Early Spanish 
and Portuguese Coinage in America," and " Verrazzano, the 
Navigator ; or. Notes on Giovanni da Verrazzano, and on a 
planisphere of 1529, illustrating his American Voyage in 
1524." His thorough acquaintance with ancient and mod- 



5 

ern languages opened to him sources of information inacces- 
sible to many, and in his special lines of study, particularly 
of geographical discovery, of maps, and of general bibUog- 
raphy, his knowledge was extensive and accurate. Students, 
and any one desirous of information, found him always will- 
ing to impart his knowledge and to open his library to them, 
his kindly manner giving added value to assistance so freely 
and unselfishly rendered. 

At a meeting of the Long Island Historical Society, held 
December 15, 1887, the following Minute was adopted : 

The death of Hon. James Carson Brevoort, on the 
7th inst, removes from the roll of the members and 
officers of this Society one of its most distinguished, 
honored, and beloved names. 

Mr. Brevoort had been intimately associated with 
this institution from its beginning, in March, 1863. 
He was one of those named in its original certificate 
of incorporation ; was from that time forward one of 
its Directors ; was its first President, and continued in 
that office for ten years, from 1863 to 1873. Declinino- 
a reelection to the Presidency in the latter year, on 
account of the pressure of other cares, he continued for 
three years longer to be Chairman of the Executive 
Committee, and remained a member of the Board of 
Directors until his death. 

His affectionate and intelligent interest in the Society 
was unfailing, and he has been from the first one of the 
most generous and helpful of all the contributors to its 
rapidly increasing collection of books, pamphlets, auto- 
graphs, manuscripts, and objects of art and of scientific 
interest. His own wide studies, and rare attainments, 
along the lines especially of historical and scientific 
research, had made him familiar with the needs of 



studious men, and with the helps most sure to be of 
welcome service to them ; and, with an unflagging 
liberality, he gave to our Library and Museum, from 
his rich inherited or acquired collections, whatever 
seemed likely to minister most directly to the wants of 
other less fortunate scholarly men. He did it all, too, 
with a quiet modesty as engaging and memorable as 
was the generosity which it accompanied. As long as 
the Library shall continue to be the resort of those pur- 
suing the researches which it is established and intended 
to assist, they will be largely indebted to him for the 
breadth of its range, for its liberal hospitality to all 
forms of human thought, and all the records of human 
work, as well as for the many important works directly 
contributed to it by him. Even in the recent years, 
while failing health has detained him from our meetings 
and confined him closely to his own house, his interest 
in the Library has been undiminished, and his gifts to 
it have been frequent and large. He will have upon 
our shelves, and in our alcoves, which he has helped 
richly to fill, that monument of himself which we cannot 
but feel that he would most have desired, until human 
history ceases to be written. 

Of the personal qualities of Mr. Brevoort, as mani- 
fested in all his relations to this Board, and to those 
individually associated in it, as well as to those assist- 
ing in the Library, it is not possible for us to speak 
in terms surpassing the claims of the truth. Always 
courteous, modest, amiable, wise in counsel, kindly in 
spirit, graceful and conciliatory in manner, with a mind 
open to all suggestions, and a clear discernment of what 
promised to advance the highest welfare of the Society, 
he has had a place in our esteem peculiar to himself, 
and will continue to occupy such a place in our memory 



while for us the years go on. It is with a keen sense 
of grief and loss that we recognize the fact that we are 
henceforth to miss from our earthly circles this culti- 
vated gentleman, this delightful associate, this generous 
helper in good works, this beloved and honored per- 
sonal friend. 

Resolved — That this Minute be entered in full on our 
permanent Records, and that a copy of it, certified by 
the President and the Librarian, be sent to the family 
of Mr. Breyoort. 



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MRS. URANIA BATTELL HUMPHREY. 

The Board of Directors of the Long Island Historical 
Society has had the pleasure of receiving an official 
notice of the bequest of ten thousand dollars 
[$ 10,000] made to it by the will of Mrs. Urania Battell 
Humphrey, for many years an honored resident of 
Brooklyn, who died in New- York on the 19th of 
November last. The husband of Mrs. Humphrey, 
Hon. James Humphrey, who for several years repre- 
sented one of the districts of this city in Congress, and 
the memory of whom is still fresh among all who knew 
him, had been from an early date a member of this 
Society, and one of its Councilors. His scholarly 
tastes were naturally strongly attracted to it, and he 
entered into its plans and efforts with earnest interest. 
Only his early death prevented him from becoming one 
of its most useful and eminent Directors. 

After his death Mrs. Humphrey, in fulfillment of a 
wish which he had expressed, gave to our Library the 
admirable portrait of Chief Justice Marshall, which her 
husband had possessed and justly prized, and which 
has been since among the chief ornaments of our rooms. 
She added, also, a large number of rare and valuable 
volumes which had been collected by her husband, and 
which were given as a memorial of him. When our 
present building was erected she gave two thousand 



dollars to the Building Fund ; to which she afterward 
added six hundred and fifty dollars for supplying a 
special alcove with biographies of women, or with books 
written by women, together with a choice collection of 
works on music. 

She has now crowned the series of her eifts to the 
Library by the largest bequest which the institution 
has thus far received ; and the Directors are sure that 
all members of the Society will feel a keen gratification 
at the fact that after years of absence from Brooklyn, 
and of the wearying pain and weakness of an invalid 
life, this lady, for many years brilliant and distinguished 
in the social life of the city, should have so generously 
remembered the institution in which her husband and 
her brother had taken deep interest, and the benefits 
of which her own educated intelligence and literary 
tastes enabled her fully to appreciate. 

It is a noteworthy fact that the only two bequests 
which the Society has hitherto received, of which this 
is the larger, have come to it from ladies. It shows 
how near the Society stands to the best life of families, 
as well as to the minds of scholars ; how strong is its 
attraction for all who feel in themselves, and who desire 
for others, the beauty and the blessing which come from 
access to a rich Library ; and it furnishes an incentive, 
the force of which will not cease to be felt, to make the 
Society always more worthy of the affectionate regard 
and the liberal assistance of such as those whose gifts 
it has gratefully received and recorded. 

Resolved — That this Minute be entered in full on our 
Records, and that a copy of it, duly certified, be sent to 
the executors of the will of Mrs. Humphrey. 



JOHN GREENWOOD. 

Our Society is called to the sad office of recording 
the death of the Hon. John Greenwood, — suddenly, at 
his home, on the afternoon of Sunday, the iith inst. 
He was one of five gentlemen of this county who called 
the first meeting on March 3d, 1863, to organize the 
Society, and of those five, he is the third who has 
already " paid the debt to nature." At an adjourned 
meeting a week afterward, as chairman of a special 
committee, he reported the draft of a constitution and 
by-laws which were at once adopted. At the next 
meeting, on the 30th of the same month, on his motion, 
a committee of seven was appointed with power to 
" prepare a proper certificate of incorporation, and 
cause the same to be filed according to the Revised 
Statutes," and thus the organization was completed. 

He was born in Providence, R. I., in 1798, and on 
the 6th of November last entered the 90th year of his 
age. Few men have been so long well known, respected 
and honored in our city and State. 

He was a diligent and accomplished classical scholar, 
thoroughly proficient in the best English literature, 
and in good measure familiar with the French and Ger- 
man languages. He was fond of Natural Science. But 
his ardent love of his profession was paramount to all 
else, and he made all other knowledge subserve that. 



II 



Thus he became a profoundly versed lawyer and jurist. 
Sagacious, logical, earnest, he was always effective as 
an advocate before a jury, or in argument and appeal 
to the Bench. On the Bench himself, he was dignified, 
courteous, patient, conscientiously upright ; learned, 
luminous, showing fine analytical power, and firmness 
in his decisions, yet always strictly impartial. Before 
a popular assembly, though never uttering a sentence 
for the mere sake of applause, he held the gratified 
attention of his audience by the unaffected elegance 
and purity of his style, and the aroused and admiring 
interest he was sure to attract to his subject. 

Our lamented associate was public-spirited and al- 
ways alive to the welfare of our beloved city. To his 
persistent, personal efforts, through the press, by pop- 
ular appeal, and argument before the State Legislature 
are we in large measure indebted for the charter, orig- 
inally drafted by his own hand, which made Brooklyn a 
city, and insured its rapid and wondrous prosperity 
and growth to the position of third in the Republic. 
At a period earlier than this he had been appointed by 
Governor Bouck Judge of our County Court of Com- 
mon Pleas ; and under the charter he was elected, in 
1842, "Corporation Counsel," and in 1849, the first 
" City Judge." In all these offices his legal and juridical 
reputation was made prominent and enhanced; and 
when he resumed private practice, that followed him 
there to assured success, and in later years his known 
qualifications made him often Referee in very important 
cases. His career to the end was accompanied by a 
general appreciation of his influence and character; 
and of his readiness to serve whatever might promote 
the growth of true refinement, a pure and cultured 
taste, the love of literature, good education and philan- 



12 



thropy in our great city. Hence we find him one of 
the founders and long the President of the Hamilton 
Literary Association, — the First Vice-President of the 
Philharmonic Society, — a Director from the beginning 
and one of the Executive Committee of the Academy 
of Music. These last, from his indigenous love and 
knowledge of music in general, while his hearty love 
of sacred music in especial prompted him, an accom- 
plished amateur as he was, with a rich repertoire of his 
own collecting of the works of the best masters at his 
command, to volunteer in its early consecration several 
years' admirable service at the organ of his chosen 
church. He had also been a very useful member of 
the Board of Education, and an active trustee of the 
City Hospital. But the officers of this Society would 
emphasize by this Minute on its permanent Records 
their grateful recognition of his important services as 
one of its founders, and for eleven consecutive years, 
from its formation, its first Vice-President, and one of 
its Councilors to the last. They miss the urbane and 
attractive manner of their departed associate, and the 
pure and elevated tone of life and conversation which 
marked him as a Christian gentleman. For Judge 
Greenwood was a religious man, a devout Christian, 
an active and faithful member of his own church, but of 
broad and generous sympathies with all of every name 
who "loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
truth." 

He was possessed of very warm and tender feelings, 
and was a faithful and constant friend. In social life, 
through his large intercourse with men, and many of 
them men of mark, his wide reach of study, his stores 
of anecdote, his careful, thoughtful observation of the 
times, and his conversational gifts, — he was a delight- 



13 

ful and instructive companion. In his domestic relations 
he was exemplarily faithful, affectionate, and fondly- 
loved. Nothing, too, could be more charming or beau- 
tiful to witness than, in his immediate household, how, 
with no jars or disquiet, his own tolerant and gentle 
temper kept its various members, Romanist and Prot- 
estant as they were, and the latter of various names 
and forms, " in the unity of the spirit in the bond of 
peace" — "forbearing one another in love." The last 
Sabbath morning of his life on earth was spent with his 
fellow-worshipers in his wonted house of prayer, the 
Church of the Saviour, on Pierrepont Street; and with 
the parting benediction yet vibrating on his ears, on 
the very threshold of his home, the mortal stroke came; 
and in a few hours peacefully, gently, with the setting 
sun, his soul went to its God. 



ALFRED S. BARNES. 



At a meeting of the Society held March 8, 1888, the following 
Minute was adopted : 

Mr. Alfred S. Barnes, who died at his residence in 
this city on the 1 7th of February, had been a member 
of this Society from a very early period in its history, 
and a Director of it for twenty-one years, since 1867. 
He had been also a member of its Executive Committee 
since 1876, and his contributions to it had been re- 
peated and liberal ; of $500 to its early Library fund, of 
an equal amount toward the purchase of the lots on 
which its building was subsequently erected, and of 
$3000 toward the building itself. 

Those who have been associated with him in the 
Board of Directors in this institution will always re- 
member, as will those similarly connected with him in 
other institutions, his wisdom in counsel, his habitual 
kindness of feeling and word, his attractive and spon- 
taneous courtesy of manner, his hearty interest in the 
good work to which he gave, not money alone, but time 
and thought, with earnest care, his enlightened public 
spirit, and his conscientious faithfulness in the discharge 
of all duties committed to him. Those who enjoyed 
the privilege of a more intimate personal acquaintance 
with him will also delight to recall his exemplary purity 
of character and of action, his loyal affectionateness of 
spirit, and his sincere and energetic Christian faith. 



15 

As the head of a large publishing-house he was care- 
ful that nothing should go from its presses which did 
not tend, in his judgment, to the true intellectual and 
moral education of those before whose eyes it should 
come. As for many years a leading citizen of our rapidly 
growing community his influence was always strenu- 
ously exerted for what he deemed its highest welfare ; 
and while he can have left no enemies behind him, he 
has left multitudes of attached and honoring friends to 
recall with gladness the fine and strong traits and 
powers which bound them to him, and to mourn the 
event which has taken him from them. 

It is a rich and beautiful inheritance which any recent 
and sympathetic community, rapidly increasing in num- 
bers and power, receives from the character and life, as 
well as from the gifts, of those who take part with con- 
tinuing enthusiasm in establishing its institutions of 
culture, of charity, or of Christian worship. Their gifts 
of moral impulse and guidance are of even higher value 
than their pecuniary offerings. Unconsciously, per- 
haps, they set the standard toward which others are 
lifted ; and the city itself, as well as the immediate 
household of one so intent on the public welfare, becomes 
to him a constant debtor. Its obligations to him con- 
tinue while its history goes on. On the list of those 
who have thus made themselves permanent benefactors 
of the city in which we are glad to live, they who have 
known it during the more than forty years' of Mr. 
Barnes's residence in it, will heartily join in giving to 
his name its place of honor. 

Resolved — That the foresfoingf Minute be entered in 
full on our Records, and that a copy of it, certified by 
the President and the Librarian, be sent to the family 
of Mr. Barnes. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 114 662 2 



